Box Score NASHVILLE, Tenn.- The Belmont University baseball team (28-20, 14-10 OVC) faced an early deficit but rallied back for a 12-3 victory at Murray State Sunday afternoon at Reagan Field as it picked up its eighth series victory of the year.
Belmont improves its conference record to 14-10 as it looks to solidify its standings for the conference tournament at the end of the month.
After a quiet performance in yesterday's contest, the Bruin bats responded with 13 hits highlighted by homeruns from Clay Payne (Powell, Tenn.) and Hunter Holland (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.). Holland drove in a career-high four runs and tied a career-high with three hits. Kyle Conger (Brentwood, Tenn.) continued his impressive stretch at the plate as he tied his career high with four hits.
Paired with the impressive offensive numbers was the strong pitching performance from freshman RHP Dylan King (Murfreesboro, Tenn.). King set career highs in both innings (6) and strikeouts (6) as he came through with a quality start in the series rubber match. Murray got to King for three runs in the first two innings, but the rookie hurler settled down to record four-consecutive scoreless innings.
Chas Hadden (Morristown, Tenn.) contributed a 2-for-5 performance and drove in two while Payne also finished with a multi-hit and multi-RBI day.
Conger and Hadden have now both hit in 13 straight games and Holland has homered in three of four contests.
Murray State struck first for the third time in three games, but it was Belmont responding with 12-straight scores to cruise to the win. In innings 6-9 Belmont flexed its muscles, scoring 10 runs in the final four turns at bat.
The Racers raced out to an early 3-0 lead, but Belmont would counter with runs in the third and fourth innings to draw things closer at 3-2 after four innings had gone by.
After a scoreless fifth inning from both squads, the Bruins scored twice in the sixth to gain a 4-3 lead, an advantage it would hold for the remainder of the game. Desi Ammons (Hohenwald, Tenn.), who scored three runs on the day, came across for the first time on a basehit by Holland which tied the game at 3-3. After a solo homer in the fourth, Payne came through again in the sixth with a basehit that plated Holland and put Belmont in front. 4-3.
King held the Racers in check in bottom of the sixth as he pitched with a lead for the first time, before Belmont stretched out its lead with a four run top of the seventh.
BU kept things rolling with two run outputs in both the eighth and ninth inning as it padded its lead during the latter portion of the game.
Ammons and Conger each tallied a team-high three runs
Josh Tubbs (Camden, Tenn.), Connor Etheridge (Springfield, Ill.) and Dom Veltri (Clarksville, Tenn.) teamed up to man the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, respectively as the Bruin bullpen blanked the Racers in the game three victory.
King built off his previous start in which he went five innings and gave up three runs vs. Memphis and carried it into Sunday's start, as he has recorded back-to-back effective outings for the Bruins.
King improves to 2-1 on the season.
Murray State received another strong starting pitching performance, but its bullpen was the story as it was in game one of the set Friday night.
Belmont returns to action Tuesday, May 10 when it travels to Tennessee for a midweek matchup with the Vols. First pitch in Knoxsville is slated for 5 p.m.
